Fast cure?

[Lux_Interior]

On 24/07/2022 at 11:19 AM, mysticriver said:

when is the time to put drying bud into a paper bag?

Ive heard about the paper bag thing but I dont know anything about it

I dry my pants whole on a line, time varies, but its always been too warm & dry - they have the crispy outers after 6-7 days, then I put into jars to cure

[ive got portable ac for the drying process of my next run, so I should be able to slow it down]

about the paper bags - what would be the manoeuvres under decent drying conditions?

 

 

mystic

 

Depends on time or year & heat. I give it until it no longer smells wet. Paper bags & boxes will still absorb moisture. It is a half way house between hanging in the open and glass jars.

 

The slower you can cure it the better!

 

[mysticriver]

13 hours ago, Lux_Interior said:

give it until it no longer smells wet

thats for that

 

 

mystic

[DeltaMelter]

 @mysticriver There are aerobic processes going on as the bud dries, the plant itself is breaking down and you want all the "bad" stuff (chlorophyll, sugars etc) gone - along with the water, leaving behind all the oils and terps you want to keep.

 

When you jar the buds the moisture that's in the buds will even out - that's why the buds can feel soft again after jarring even though they were crispy going in. Burping is going to help some of that moisture escape but it also replenishes the oxygen for the aerobic bacteria. Some of those bacteria though can operate aerobically or anaerobically so if you shut the jar up too soon and leave it closed they will run out of oxygen then flip to anaerobic respiration - at that point they start breaking down the things you do want to keep and producing things you don't want  - wet dog smell, ammonia, hay smell etc

 

That's why the weed can smell fantastic going into the jar but then terrible after a few days of anaerobic bacteria chewing it up.

 

The paper bag method lets the buds sweat out that remaining mositure without anaerobic bacteria setting in - thats why adding a Boveda pack to a closed jar when sweating isn't a great idea as its messing with this process and "wetting" the dry outside of the bud and stopping the inner moisture escaping and levelling out.

 

I think folks are straight-up jarring their buds too soon (because I've done it too) without sweating them (and therefore not letting the remaining moisture leave the middle of the buds) this in turn leads to bacteria forming inside the buds at levels you don't want and they break down the oils into less desirable compounds. If you've done this yourself then you know that these buds never really seem to dry out properly and are stuck like that because of the bacteria effectively rotting / decomposing them. This isn't just about smell either - it trashes the potency, that's why for first time growers folks tend to recommend you dry well - even over-dry for your first time.

 

After sweating and fully drying there isn't enough water in the buds to allow for bacteria / moulds to grow out of control and its at that point its ready for jarring and longer-term storage as it can't rot/mould on you. Over time the compounds in the trichomes begin to combine and polymerise and form new compounds with a wider expression of terpenes - thats why cured weed is better weed.

 

All this stuff about jarring it up and looking at the RH and see if it "spikes" too high then opening it and adding/removing Boveda packs is bollocks imho and can ruin good weed by interfering with the sweating process. If the RH climbs that much in a jar after you add the buds then its too wet to begin with.

 

If you dry weed for 2 weeks at 55% RH <20C and then jar it you should end up with about 50-55% RH in the jar. Dried cannabis is very hygroscopic and will absorb water readily from the air so in the jar the RH is usually the same as the laast few days RH of your drying environment. So what I'm getting at is don't just go on RH in the jar.

 

Sorry for the wall of text!

[Lux_Interior]

7 hours ago, DeltaMelter said:

 @mysticriver

Sorry for the wall of text!

 

You are welcome dude. Very informative.

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Lux_Interior
sp.

[mysticriver]

12 hours ago, Lux_Interior said:

You are welcome dude. Very informative.

very welcome

 

 

mystic

[mysticriver]

so to @Lux_Interior & @DeltaMelter 

the paper bags is to slow down the dry? being a half-way house bwtn line & jar

is that what were trying to do here? or speed it up. [cant be speed it up if were wanting to slow the dry right down (thinking out loud here)]

 

 

mystic

[DeltaMelter]

@mysticriver Yes it slows it down and also draws the moisture out from the inside of the buds to even out the moisture and wick it away from the buds.

[Hombre del Monte]

On 25/07/2022 at 1:05 PM, mysticriver said:

okay

do you do, or recommend the plastic bag inside thing?

 

 

mystic

No plastic. Static can build up and it knackers up the trichs

 

[Hombre del Monte]

You could cob it? it'll still have enough moisture.

[DeltaMelter]

@mysticriver One other thing - with the paper bag method you will still get the buds feeling moist again when you first bag them - that's ok (and kinda the point) you just open the bag a bit and let them air out. I use two bags one on the bottom and one on top. After airing them I put one bag over the other and I flip it upside down so the drier buds are at the bottom and the wetter ones go to the top. You can then remove the top bag for more airing and pop it back on top when you are done. The really big takeaway bags from McDonalds do the trick.

 

Each time you open the bag and let it air out the buds will feel crispy again, once a day I flip them over and open the bag then close it again after an hour or two when they feel dry to the touch again.

 

Repeat this cycle for a couple of days until they stop feeling wet again after closing the bag and feel dry to the touch but still a bit "springy/spongey" so if you gently squeeze a bud it will pop back into shape - at that point, you know the moisture is even. One hack is to use a wood moisture meter which will tell you the % water in the stems - between 8-12% is good to go for curing/jarring.

 

If you buy a hygrometer or two (Govee work well with a phone app) you can stick them in the bags and monitor the RH with your phone/app. You can then regulate that by opening the bag/closing it etc if required. The proximity of the buds together will increase the RH in the bag as they sweat so make sure they are separated well enough that there are air gaps between them - that's the reason you leave them on the stems.

 

The idea is that you are allowing the good bacteria time to break down the stuff you don't want before the plant is too dry for the bacteria to keep going. However, you don't want it to take so long for the water to leave (or be anaerobic) that the weed is rotting before it's fully dry or has the water stuck in there when you try to store the weed longer term.

 

Happy dying / curing

Edited August 7, 2022 by DeltaMelter

[Hombre del Monte]

On 06/08/2022 at 3:47 PM, DeltaMelter said:

All this stuff about jarring it up and looking at the RH and see if it "spikes" too high then opening it and adding/removing Boveda packs is bollocks

Too right. 

[Lux_Interior]

12 hours ago, mysticriver said:

so to @Lux_Interior & @DeltaMelter 

the paper bags is to slow down the dry? being a half-way house bwtn line & jar

is that what were trying to do here? or speed it up. [cant be speed it up if were wanting to slow the dry right down (thinking out loud here)]

 

 

mystic

 

It is trying to slow down the drying/cure, to stop the weed becoming crispy when dry. My recent crop spent two days upside down in a dark garage. Then the entire plants were put into corrugated cardboard boxes for a week. Then the trimmed buds were put in glass jars were they will stay for a month.

 

 

Thus!

 

[Baron von greenback]

I use the big square plastic boxes that mushrooms come in for takeaways and restaurants they have holes all the way round and you can stack them then have a fan blowing around after they dry I put the bud in them vac bags that you put clothes in but I might try the bag method next time

[mysticriver]

11 hours ago, Lux_Interior said:

two days upside down in a dark garage

round abouts what temp was this? can I assume its too hot and so u put the stems/buds into bags, (slowing it down) for that reason - its too hot or dry, kind of thing edit- u dont hav to answer that, obviously the answers gonna be it was too hot etc

ive actually bought an ac unit for my next dry... so important to get the dry right, been struggling with too hot temps & low rh, in past dries

ok I see me doing this some time, the stuffs on the line for a few days... I put it into bags

it seems like there a lot to learn but once ive done it ill have a feel for when to do it [when to bag]

 

 

mystic

Edited August 8, 2022 by mysticriver

[Lux_Interior]

On 08/08/2022 at 10:19 AM, mysticriver said:

round abouts what temp was this? can I assume its too hot and so u put the stems/buds into bags, (slowing it down) for that reason - its too hot or dry, kind of thing edit- u dont hav to answer that, obviously the answers gonna be it was too hot etc

ive actually bought an ac unit for my next dry... so important to get the dry right, been struggling with too hot temps & low rh, in past dries

ok I see me doing this some time, the stuffs on the line for a few days... I put it into bags

it seems like there a lot to learn but once ive done it ill have a feel for when to do it [when to bag]

 

 

mystic

 

Yes the temperature was 21ºC+. At other times of year I would have left it maybe double the time before putting it into cardboard. It has now been in glass jars for about a fortnight and its still pliable and smells lush.